Troops come from Commanders, not Villages: In Warbands, you have promotion trees where a swadian peasant can one day become a Swadian Knight/noble. Even if your lord gifts you a tiny hamlet, proper care will allow you to maintain a far larger army than the village implies. Owning two cities, a fortress and six towns nets you enough income to support the pay of 5600 men and remain at a profit. Villages are much Wealthier - In With Fire and Sword, the sliding scale of wealth is rapid, and once your town is fully upgraded, you will easily obtain tens of thousands of thaler. At a certain point, you will become so rich it will be nearly impossible to become poor. With small amounts, the interest is middling, but once you invest, say, ten thousand or a hundred thousand thaler, your wealth will compound rapidly. The system of Private Enterprise Ownership from Warbands is gone, and instead you have the Merchant's guild, which allows you to store money for a monthly interest rate (it can vary in interest percentage). With Fire and Sword gives you the option of sending your own caravans, but I find these really unreliable, so I would advise against them versus carrying them yourself. With a small mounted escort, you can quickly make a fortune long before you start fighting national armies. Invest in the Trade skill and Inventory Management early on, and you'll develop capital quickly. Left alone, the economics system in With Fire and Sword develops severe trade imbalances that you can use to quickly get rich.

In With Fire and Sword, you can buy gunpowder for a hundred Thaler in Moscow and sell it for over a thousand Thaler in Cherkassy. Trade Imbalances are far more important - In Warbands, the most profit you can get are a few hundred denars between cities selling Veluca Velvet in Tihr. Man does not live on loot alone in With Fire and Sword, or you will NOT be able to support your habits. Moreover, you must physically find your faction lord to get your pay as a mercenary, and the amount they give you is piddling. The loot doesn't sell for much, and prisoners fetch you two hundred Thaler at best. On the other hand, money is harder to get through war. Soldiering pays poorly -In With Fire and Sword, you can't make a living as a manhunter/soldier. Apart from honey, you can get almost any food for under 100 thaler if you go to the right place. Your men can live off wine and beer alone, and there are far more types of food on offer.

Here are some important things:įood is Cheap: On the plus side, food is extremely cheap and plentiful. I've defeated whole units of Janissaries without getting hit once, but I've been potshotted at the last shot by a lucky shot by a brigand as well.

With Fire and Sword, I would say it's very easy for early players to feel let down because of the random casualty aspect of musket warfare.

Warband vs fire and sword